Final Masquerade
by Mai-chan63
Summary: Having made his decision Kaito decided to announce his retirement and hold his last heist. But with his last sparkle of hope he put a deeper meaning in his last heist note, hoping that someone would realize what he was going through and would stop him from doing what he was going to do afterwards... Oneshot, OoC


Hi, everyone! Here I am with another fic of mine ^^ I warn you, it's not beta-read, but I did read over it once so I don't think that there are that many mistakes left. Also Kaito is probably heavily OoC and I was a bit struggling with how to describe his feelings without making it too short. Now though I think I went a bit too far with his thoughts :s

Anyhow, I hope you like this story, it is a oneshot ^^ (Yes, I finally managed to make a oneshot!)

**Genre**; Angst, Romance

**Rating**; K+

**Word count**; 7.301 (it ended up longer than expected ='.'=)

Enjoy~!

* * *

><p><strong>~Final Masquerade~<strong>

_'__I welcome you my dear fans, keibu's, keiji's, and tantei's,_

_to enjoy what will be my last heist._

_Die, is what the sun will do during this final goodbye, _

_because tonight there will be no more Moonlight Magician.'_

He silently muttered along with the news reporter on the television as she read Kaitou KID's newest heist note. Whistling a short tune he waited until four birds flew towards him and landed on the back of the couch. "Michi, Kaoru, Nana, Ikki," he said and pointed at each bird as he said their names.

At the end of the line of birds was an empty space where another bird was supposed to be… He was missing one of his birds. Frowning he whistled again and this time the fifth, white bird flew inside the living room. "Haru, there you are," he said, smiling slightly.

The other birds cooed irritated at the newcomer as if scolding him for being late. He chuckled at them before making a gesture with his hand. Upon seeing the gesture, the birds, trained perfectly, flew towards him and found their way to their respective places in his clothes.

_'__4th of July, I end the path I took so long ago,_

_in Sherlock Holmes' district that houses the Kiss of Goodbye ruby._

_1412 should be separated into two,_

_where black taints the white feathers.'_

He continued in sync with the news reporter. Patting all over his body he checked to see if he had everything and had placed it all in the right places. Yup, everything was there. For the first time he actually felt kind of… light before a heist.

Usually carrying all kinds of glitter bombs, traps, disguises, doves, and other prank material, made him feel heavy because he had to wear it all on his person. Tonight he wasn't carrying everything he needed – not that that made him any less prepared.

On the contrary he was even better prepared than ever and that was what made him feel so light. He'd already made sure that everything he ever needed was where he needed it to be inside the museum that housed his target.

_'__My last challenge;_

_Figure out what else this note will announce. What does 1412 leave twice in the lightning? _

_Sayonara.'_

Light was how he physically felt, but mentally he felt the complete opposite. Tonight would be the night. He'd planned for this for so long and had always postponed it because he was going to do something no one would have ever guessed he'd do.

After all, Kuroba Kaito was **the **prankster and happy-go-lucky guy at school. Kaito wouldn't do things like that. He wouldn't even think of doing something so… What was it? How could you call what he was going to do? Stupid? Heartbreaking? Terrifying.

That would be a rather fitting description… The thought of what he was going to do was indeed terrifying.

Sighing he turned off the television and walked towards the hall. Taking his jacket he hesitated. It was warm outside there wasn't really any reason to wear it. Still he stood there, holding the jacket in his hands and staring at it. The jacket was light, both in color and in weight. He liked the contradiction of it and his feelings at the moment.

Shrugging he put it on. It may be the last time he would wear it, so he might as well do so and reminiscence on memories of times when he wore it.

Walking out the front door Kaito breathed in the fresh afternoon air. Night would fall soon and that would be when his heist would start. _Let's make it a night to remember_. He thought and with a KID-like smirk he started his way towards his target.

* * *

><p>Somewhere quite a few miles away a figure said hunched over his desk, frantically writing things down. A frown stained his fair face as he stared intently at the notes he jotted down and the little text in front of him. Biting his lip he tried to understand the words written.<p>

He loved riddles. Ever since he was a child, he'd loved the mysteries behind them. They excited him, encouraged him, and dared him to figure them out. Puzzles and riddles were his life. Maybe that's the reason for his choice of career.

This riddle was different though. He wasn't doing it out of fun. There was just… there was something at stake here. He could feel there was so much more to this riddle and it bugged him. He knew he had to find it out soon. Not only because the heist was in mere hours, but also because if he didn't figure it out he knew he would let someone down.

He didn't know why, but he felt that if he didn't figure it out he would led down the one who made the riddle. "Kuso," he cursed under his breath as he reached another dead-end. He'd long since figured out everything for the heist, but he just couldn't find the deeper meaning.

"What do you want to say, KID?" he asked the smirking figure inside his mind. He didn't know what the other was thinking, quitting all of a sudden and this was the only clue he had to figure it out. But what did that clue mean? What was the other thing KID wanted to say with his latest heist note?

There had to be a clue in here somewhere. In the last sentence then? _What does 1412 leave twice in the lightning?_ Twice… something is left twice. Does he say anything twice? And what does he mean by lightning?

Tapping with his pen on the notebook beneath his hand he stared at the heist note. He couldn't think of anything. He could understand most of the note, but he just didn't understand what the lightning suddenly had to do with it. Looking at his notes, mind somewhere far away, he made a motion with his pen.

Frowning he did it again, this time with the tip of his pen. He drew what he had been thinking about, lightning. On paper a simplified version of a lightning bolt appeared and something clicked in his mind. The lightning bolt existed of three lines en four points. _Four_…

_Wait a minute,_ he thought, shooting upright in his chair. Jotting down more notes, finally the deeper meaning started to unfold in front of him. His blood turned cold as it hit him. He understood half of the deeper meaning, but that was enough to get him to rush out of his chair and out of his house.

* * *

><p>Looking at the British blond standing a little off to the side of the room, Kaito watched him count down. It was always funny to do so. It made him feel as if Hakuba was actually an accomplice, signaling him to start his part of the operation.<p>

The heist was mere seconds away from its genesis. Kaito took one last sweep across the room. Nakamori-keibu was close to the only door leading to the grand hall the gem was displayed in, giving last-minute orders. The task force officers were all tensing up at their posts around the room. Four surrounding the display case, two in front of the door, about eight in front of the huge wall made of glass on the right side of the room, and about ten others walking around the room.

Twenty-four in total, excluding Nakamori-keibu, Hakuba, and the dark-skinned Osakan detective leaning tensely against the wall somewhere behind Hakuba and looking at his phone. Whether it was pure coincidence or the fact that he'd heard this would be Kaitou KID's last heist that he came, Kaito did not know, but he appreciated his presence. It would certainly make for a much more interesting heist than it normally would be.

Having taken his glance around the room, Kaito realized he was missing something. A certain detective with his distinctive cowlick was missing and it bothered Kaito. _Where the devil is Tantei-kun?_ Kaito asked himself, leaning with his chin on his elbow and pouting, making sure he wouldn't make a noise inside the air vent he was currently residing.

Kaito had actually really wanted the detective to be there. Maybe because of the little spark of hope that the detective would read what was going through his mind and stop him. He'd purposely planned for his heist to be held in Beika, the detective's own district.

Apparently though the detective didn't want to play, probably too busy with some kind of murder. It really shouldn't bother Kaito as much as it did…

The power outage, something he'd planned himself, scared the crap out of him as the clock stroke midnight. Taking action immediately he opened the air vent and led himself down using his grappling hook. Somewhere on his way down to the display case through Nakamori's shouting, he heard the door open, but he didn't pay it any mind.

Just as the lights went on he released one of his smoke bombs containing sleeping gas, quickly reminding himself to put on his gas mask. The guards surrounding the case had been caught off guard and fell like sacks of potatoes on the ground. As the fog started to clear he took a deep breath and put the gas mask away.

To the spectators it all seemed as if KID had miraculously appeared on top of the glass display case, knocking out the guards surrounding it without seemingly effort. Grinning at their surprised faces Kaito stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest and hands holding the ends of his cape, making it drape around his body. He looked at them with an expression filled with mysteries and mischief.

One last time he would give them a heist they would never forget. "Ladies and gentleman," he greeted, not even making an effort to get his voice across the room as everybody was dead silent, "welcome."

As his eyes scanned the room, he noticed what the sound of the door opening had originated from. Standing there panting and sweating was the one and only Kudo Shinichi in front of the door. "Enjoy the show." There wasn't any more to say so he didn't. Before anyone could even ask for his reason to quit, Kaito began his show.

Spreading his arms wide all of a sudden, he made his cape bellow away from his body, the signal for his doves to start moving. They sprouted from his suit and underneath his cape, dragging the wires with small, orange paper lanterns after them. Michi, Kaoru, Nana, and Ikki all flew to the corners of the room where they sat on platforms Kaito had prepared for them. Haru flew towards the glass wall on the right side of the room and perched on one of the windowsills.

The wires were connected from KID to the birds' paws, making the lanterns hang like garlands throughout the room. The people in the room were left dumbfounded as KID continued his show.

The paper lanterns suddenly exploded one by one, from the center where KID stood all the way to the corners of the rooms where the doves had disappeared behind the little curtains and cages Kaito had prepared beforehand. The explosions caused the room to be filled with what looked like little stars, dancing their way throughout the air.

As his audience was admiring the view, KID had stealthily lowered himself and stole the ruby that had been lying beneath his feet. None too soon though, Nakamori regained his senses and noticed said ruby in the thief's hands.

"KID!" he shouted, pointing at the man, "let go of that ruby and give up immediately. You can explain your stupid heist note at the station later!"

A stab shot through Kaito's heart at the mention of his 'stupid' heist note. He'd worked so hard on that one, and there was so much that that one heist note was saying, but it seemed that no one would ever know any of it.

Well, this is the path he'd chosen. This was the path he was going to follow. However stupid it may seem to anyone.

Without saying anything KID enveloped the ruby in between his hands, as if he'd just captured a butterfly. Spreading both hands he lifted his upper, right hand. The ruby, as if by magic, floated in between his hands as he moved them around it.

The fact that he moved his hands all around it, may look to the average audience as if he were trying to be mysterious, but to the audience above average it was a challenge. It told them there were no wires nor a platform the gem could be lying on.

All this time he'd been looking at the gem, still as if it were a beautiful and fragile, little butterfly. The officers closest to him were therefore shocked when he suddenly looked up and smirked at them. His hands were on either side of the gem and it was seemingly glowing. The red glow enlightened his face from below, creating an almost ominous effect. Then he suddenly moved his hands backwards slightly, so he could join them at his wrists, and push the gem forward. The gem suddenly came to live, creating a flame that burst forward towards the shell-shocked officers. It took the shape of a phoenix.

The little orange stars that had continued to float around the room gathered themselves around the blazing phoenix, enlightening it even more until it was too bright to look at. The light continued to blind everyone inside the room for about ten seconds, before this as well exploded, sending red, yellow, and orange glitters to flutter down on the dumbfounded task force and two detectives.

Neither KID nor the Kiss of Goodbye were to be seen anywhere in sight. They had long since made their escape as the whole room had been blinded by the light. What hadn't come to everyone's attention yet was that one of the three high-school detectives had left the room as well.

Somewhere else inside the building said thief was grinning maniacally as he ran through the hallways towards the roof. He hoped his other doves had done what he'd wanted them to do and give the same show on a much larger scale outside.

The stars that would've erupted from the paper lanterns should've come together in smaller groups, creating a fire that would take the shape of an animal. The animals should've danced around a little longer before their light had grown in strength and exploded just as the phoenix had done.

If everything had gone well out there he would be able to say that his heist was a success. His last heist had been a great success and had now come to an end. There was only one more thing he had to do before he could finally end it all.

As he made his way towards the roof he felt something cold slide down his cheek. He swiped it away with one hand and looked at it. Water, he realized. Why was there water on his cheek? It didn't take him long to realize where the tears had come from though.

Shaking his head he continued, bursting through the door leading to the roof. As he breathed in the fresh air, his frantically beating heart finally seemed to calm down some. He'd always loved this moment. The moment he would leave that suffocating building and smell the fresh air, feel the wind tugging at his cape and clothes, and look upon the white moon high in the sky.

As he slowly walked towards the edge Kaito raised his hand holding the ruby up to the moon. Time passed by as he watched the red moon through the Kiss of Goodbye. Thousands of memories and thoughts raced throughout his mind as he soon came to the conclusion this wasn't it.

He'd promised he'd find Pandora. He would find it before Snake and his lackeys, and he would destroy it. He would continue the quest his father had started so long ago and he would finish it. That had been his one and only goal these past few years. School hadn't mattered any more. He'd had to give up on Aoko.

Now it was all coming to an end. He would break his promise. He would give up everything he'd sacrificed over the years and he would let his father down. He was certain Kuroba Toichi would be very disappointed in his son if only he could see him now.

Well… it didn't matter anymore.

The door to the roof burst open all of a sudden and for the second time that evening Kudo Shinichi was standing panting and sweating inside the open door. Kaito, at first surprised, looked with wide eyes towards the detective, but soon realized that there were still traces of his earlier tears left on his cheeks.

He smoothly turned away from the detective, looking down at the crowd below them. The ruby was safely tucked away inside his pocket. "Yo, Meitantei-san," KID said. He heard the detective's breathing even out as he caught his breath.

"KID," he growled, "what the hell? What the hell is up with this hidden meaning inside your note?" KID's ears were peaked at the question. Kudo had seen his second meaning? Did he know what was going on inside of him right now? If he'd been a puppy he'd have waged his tail. The little sparkle of hope that had been inside of his heart grew brighter at the thought.

"What the hell are you trying to say with it, KID?" That one sentence shattered his last bits of hope.

Of course even Shinichi wouldn't know the real meaning behind his note. How could he? He didn't know anything about him. KID was a mysterious character that he was sometimes able to predict his movements from. That was it. Detective and thief, there wasn't anything else between them, not friends. Maybe rivals, but any more than that…?

_Then this is really the end_, Kaito thought to himself, smiling sadly. Out loud though he said, "That is for me to know and for you to find out, Meitantei-san." Turning around he held his face just lowered enough for his tears to be hidden from the detective's eyes. He spread his arms wide, keeping up the showman act until the bitter end.

"KID, enough with the riddles! This is serious," Shinichi all but pleaded him. There was a slight desperation in his voice that almost gave KID another bit of hope. "I can help you," Shinichi said more softly.

A smile, a true smile, spread across his face. No grin, no smirk, no a smile that not just anyone would ever see on the Kaitou KID's face. "It doesn't matter anymore," he said. "Everything will end tonight."

And with that he took one last step back, falling backwards and over the edge of the roof. He saw Shinichi jump forward, but it was too late. Kaito waited before opening his hang glider, just long enough for him to see the detective appearing at the edge of the roof. His eyes were wide as he screamed something Kaito didn't understand.

Giving the man one last smile he turned around in the air and opened his hang glider. Below him the crowd went wild as he flew away, but their cheering befell on deaf man's ears. Kaito flew back home.

His final heist had been a success. Still he couldn't help but feel as if he'd failed in every aspect.

* * *

><p>How many doors he had already slammed open this evening? Shinichi didn't know nor did he care. He raced up the stairs towards the library and his desk where his notebook containing the heist note was lying. It fell on the ground as he frantically tried to open it on the right page. Ducking quickly he picked it up and walked towards the whiteboard he'd bought a few years ago.<p>

It was now or never. If he couldn't figure out the heist note, something very, very bad was going to happen to KID. He quickly jotted down the heist note on the whiteboard and circled a few words.

If you were to look at the heist note you would see that it was divided in two paragraphs. The hint KID left was that 1412 left something twice in the lightning. 'Twice' probably referred to these two parts of the note. These paragraphs were divided in four lines, coincidentally 1412 also existed out of four parts. If you take the words according to these numbers, meaning you'd get the first word of the first line, the fourth word of the second line, the first word of the third line, and the second word of the fourth line, you'd get a fitting sentence.

Taking a step back from the whiteboard, Shinichi looked at his work. The heist note was scribbled at the center with eight words circled with a red marker. Beneath that, also in red, were the words written in a single sentence.

_'__**I **__welcome you, my dear keibu's, keiji's, fans, and tantei's,  
>To enjoy what <em>_**will **__be my last heist.  
><em>_**Die **__is what the moon will do,  
>because <em>_**tonight **__there will be no Moonlight magician any more._

**_4_****_th _**_of July, I end the path I took so long ago,  
>In Sherlock Holmes' <em>_**district **__that houses the Kiss of Goodbye ruby.  
><em>_**1412 **__should be separated into two,  
>where <em>_**black **__taints the white feathers._

_My last challenge;  
>Figure out what else this note will announce. What does 1412 leave twice in the lightning? <em>

_Sayonara._

**_I will die tonight._**

**_4 district 1412 black._**_'_

The problem was the second sentence however. It didn't form a sentence at all. Did that mean his deduction was off? He'd gone to the heist having only looked at the first sentence, but what if he was wrong? What if KID had been pointing in a completely different direction than Shinichi was thinking in right now?

"Gaaah, but it fits! What could be wrong in my deduction?" he shouted, tugging at his hair. 1412, two times, the lightning that is roughly formed due to the position of the words. "What am I missing?" he asked himself, calming down slightly. Being hasty would only lead him to jump to conclusions. He had to think, calm down and think.

Could there be another clue in the note? Was there something about the position that was so important or maybe the lightning had something to do with it? "No, that's not it," Shinichi growled. The sentence, that weird sentence, what held it together?

"4…" Shinichi spoke softly to himself, "district…" then something clicked. He'd guessed it was only the 4 KID had wanted to indicate, but what if it was meant to be fourth? The fourth district?

"Did he put his freaking address in the heist note?!" Shinichi exclaimed in disbelief. Taking his laptop Shinichi searched on the internet for a house in the fourth district with the number 1412, but there wasn't any. Leaning back against his desk he put his hand on his chin and closed his eyes.

There had to be something more to it. He was probably on the right track, but now he had to find the next clue. What was it? He realized he had to do something with the 1412 he was given, but what? And what about the black as the last word? Black would be *kuroi.

"Kuso," he cursed under his breath, "what the devil is all this about, KID?" Shamefully, there was no reply of the phantom thief. Clicking with his tongue, Shinichi took the notebook and his wallet, and left the house to the train station.

Time was almost up.

* * *

><p>Kaito didn't bother to turn on the television when he came home, already knowing what would be on the news. The lights were left alone as well, he knew the house like the back of his hand after all. He went to the kitchen first, opening the cabinets to fish out a cup and some cacao powder. A cup of hot chocolate would be nice.<p>

He'd landed in an alley somewhere at the edge of Beika after his escape and changed back to his normal clothes. The original plan had been to take the bus home, but upon reaching the bus station he decided that a long night walk would be much more preferred.

Now he was at home, preparing for what was to come. He let the water boil as he went to the front door and locked it before going back to the kitchen. Soon the hot chocolate was done, so he made his way towards his room where he sat down on the ground with his back against his bed.

Staring at his father's portrait in front of him he slowly drank his beverage. It was probably long after midnight, maybe around two or three o'clock already. Well, it didn't matter. It was actually better as that would make for less people to notice anything out of the ordinary.

His plan was simple; he would follow his father until the end. Looking at his desk he saw the little flask he'd put there earlier next to the box of matches. Next to the desk stood a canister filled with a stinky liquid.

Smiling at himself he knew his cup of choco was only to prolong the inevitable. He was going to do it no matter how long he waited. Soon enough that time came. His cup was empty and now he was going to execute his plan.

Standing up he took the canister from its spot on the ground and emptied its continents all around the room. He drenched his bed, the curtains, the walls and his carpet with the stinky gasoline, but left out one spot in the middle of the room.

As the canister was slowly empty he put it to the side and grabbed the flask and the matches. Sitting down on the spot in the middle of the room he watched his hands shake slightly as he took one of the matches out. This was it. He was going to do it. He couldn't bear any of it anymore.

The pressure that had rested on his shoulders for so long was becoming too much. His promise was too much. He just couldn't do it. Finding Pandora, bringing the organization to light, how could he do all of that on his own?

The problem was that he couldn't just go to the police now. He couldn't ask anyone for help. He was a criminal and even if they were to listen to him and defeat Snake and his goons, they would throw him in jail for sure. All of this, his path, his faith, all ended the same, in jail. Everyone who could help him out, wouldn't just let him go afterwards.

Trying to go on was too much. Kaitou KID had been the one thing that destroyed his whole life. His friendship with Aoko would never be the same again. His whole life would never be the same. Being Kaitou KID changed him too much to go back to the prankster magician and happy-go-lucky guy.

That Kuroba Kaito, the one all his friends used to know, is just a mask. A mask created by his poker face. He had no control whatsoever on his life or even he, himself anymore. He changed whoever he was whenever it suited him. Kuroba Kaito was no one anymore.

It just had to end. He had to take back his life, even if that meant he would… He just couldn't take it that he had no control over his life anymore.

Slowly he put the match against the lighter on the side. He hesitated for a second, hands shaking even more, before he flicked his wrist. The match came sputtering to life. Kaito stared at it, unsure of what to do.

The light seemed so innocent and small, almost peaceful amidst the stench of the gasoline. _This is it_, he thought then threw the match towards the curtains. Not even a second after it touched said curtains they caught the fire and blared to life. The match touched the floor where it as well, set fire to the carpet.

Lighting another one Kaito threw this one to the door, which followed the same faith as the curtains. The flames licked at his door and the cabinet holding his books next to it, hungrily enveloping more.

The third match was thrown on his bed, which caught fire even quicker than the other two had. After that Kaito carelessly threw the match box away. He took the flask from his other hand and opened it. A sickeningly sweet scent entered his nose and he wrinkled it in slight disgust. He'd always loved sweet things, but even chloroform was too sweet for his taste.

With a final push Kaito let the scent waft through his nose and take its effect. Immediately he felt the sweet liquid take effect. His head was growing cloudy as he dropped the flask. He tried to focus his eyes, but the light of the flames was slowly beginning to blur as his eyelids dropped.

_Sweet, sweet relief._ Kaito thought as he curled in, arms wrapping around his legs and head resting on his knees. With a sigh he closed his eyes, chloroform fully taking effect. He was only half-aware of the sudden change in the flames. The door to his room burst open and the flames were desperately licking at the new oxygen that entered the room.

Someone coughed and called out to him. "Otou-san?" Kaito asked softly, raising his head with what little power he had left. He looked at the figure standing in the doorway, trying to find a way inside the room. The person held his left arm in front of his mouth, blocking the smoke as much as possible.

Smiling once more, Kaito put his head back down on his knees. "So you've come to take me with you, Otou-san," he mumbled. "I'm glad."

He didn't notice the figure had come closer until two hands roughly grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "…I …-ot… St…" the voice yelled at him and the hands continued to shake him until he looked at the man in front of him.

Azure eyes broke the red glow of the flames and lifted him slightly from the effects of the chloroform. "You idiot!" Shinichi yelled as he looked around frantically. "You freaking moron! Get off your ass, right now! We have to get out of here!"

Dazed Kaito felt himself being pulled up to his feet and supported by a broad shoulder. Shinichi carried him out of his burning bedroom as fast as he could. They weren't even out of the house or the effects of the chloroform took its effect fully and Kaito succumbed to a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>Kaito was roughly awoken by a fist embedding itself next to him on the bed. Shooting upwards he frantically looked around, trying to find the source. Before he could clearly get a grip on his surroundings however two arms wrapped themselves around his neck and a girl started to cry on his shoulder.<p>

"A-Aoko?" Kaito asked confused, seeing the girl's back shake as she sobbed. He looked up to meet Hakuba's gaze, stoic as always, but Kaito detected a little bit of relief as well. "What's going on?" he asked and looked around.

He was in a hospital room, he noticed, the whiteness blinding his eyes as they weren't used to the sudden brightness yet. Lying in a perfectly white bed, Kaito was a little bit disoriented at what had happened.

"BaKaito! You almost died!" Aoko shouted through her sobs, leaning back to look him in the eyes. "Your house burned down…" she said shakily, "you were still inside… you could've died." She put her hands in front of her eyes as new tears were threatening to fall.

Memories came back to Kaito. He remembered holding his heist and then he went home and there was indeed a fire, but… Oh right, he'd been the one who'd started it. He'd wanted to die. Realization dawning on him, he looked at Hakuba.

Seeing the question inside his eyes the Brit gestured towards the end of the room. Following his gaze, Kaito found another detective sitting inside the room. At the end of the room Kudo Shinichi was sitting in a chair, his eyes closed as he was fast asleep.

"He saved you from the fire," Hakuba explained. "He said he'd been chasing KID when he saw the flames inside your room."

"I… I see," Kaito said, lowering his gaze. Now that Hakuba spoke of it he did remember Shinichi suddenly being there. Had it been coincidence?

"Kaito, what happened?" Aoko asked him urgently, letting go of her best friend and sitting back in the chair. Her cheeks were still stained with fresh tears, but while usually it would've made him want to make her happy, right now he couldn't bring himself to do so. He'd just rather have her leave and have some time to himself to think.

Hakuba must've read this wish from his body language as he put his hand on top of Aoko's shoulder, catching the girl's attention. "I think we should go for a bit. We'll go find a doctor and tell him that Kuroba is awake, alright Aoko-chan?"

"But…" Aoko began, but as she saw Kaito's gaze she realized he was right. She nodded and stood up, following the detective to the door. Before she left the room she turned to Kaito and said, "We'll be back soon, alright Kaito?"

He didn't give her a reply, which must've saddened her. Yet he couldn't bring himself to do anything about it. There were so many thoughts and emotions fighting for dominance inside his heart.

On one side he was glad that he'd been stopped from doing what he'd wanted to do. On the other he was sad. What if it had been mere luck that Shinichi passed by? In that case, no one would ever realize his true feelings and all would be deemed an accident. In the end that would only delay the inevitable even further.

It wasn't until the bed dipped in next to him that he realized Shinichi had woken up and approached him. Startled Kaito looked at him with wide-eyes and slightly fastened breath. "Easy," Shinichi merely said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

His smile was a polite one, something he wasn't used to receive from the detective. Kaito only saw the detective smile like that when he'd seen the detective on television or 'studied' – ahem, stalked – him. So did that mean Shinichi saw him as a stranger? Then he hadn't figured out the note and really had coincidentally passed by… right?

Looking away Kaito didn't say anything. If even Shinichi hadn't figured it out he would just try to get out of the hospital as soon as possible and try it all over again. He was done with life the way it was and this was the only way for him to change it.

"Hakuba said you saved me from the fire," Kaito started, plastering a smile on his face. "I don't really remember much of what happened, but thanks for saving me." He scratched the back in faked sheepishness. But the detective didn't seem to pay him any mind.

"Of all people," Shinichi muttered, probably not having meant for Kaito to hear. Looking up, Kaito saw the detective look out the window, gaze fixated on something far, far away. "I suggest you better get your story ready. Soon they will find out about your attempted suicide," Shinichi turned his head to meet Kaito's eyes, "KID."

Eyes widening, Kaito felt shock go through his system. _He knew?_ He thought. Had he really figured out his heist note? A smile wanted to tug at the corner of his lips, but Kaito soon realized something.

Shinichi had always known a lot about him, specifically the fact that KID looked a lot like him, seeing as he could disguise himself as the detective without a mask. That meant that just by seeing Kaito he would've figured it out, even without solving his note.

"How did you know?" Kaito said, trying to keep the front he always had when Shinichi or Conan had seen him through his disguises. The detective looked at him from the corner of his eyes and frowned.

"Isn't it obvious?"

_Obvious?_ _What is obvious?_ Kaito thought getting frustrated. There was one question that was plaguing his mind and the answer to that question would decide his fate. It would decide whatever was going to happen next and he wanted to know the answer already.

"Please, do explain to this simple thief, Meitantei-kun," Kaito said, smiling wryly.

"You pointed it out to me," Shinichi started, making the bedridden thief cock his head to the side in confusion. "You wanted to be stopped, didn't you?" Changing his gaze back towards the window, Shinichi continued to speak. "I figured out that part of your heist note before your heist.

"It took me a while of stressful thinking, but in the end it was actually rather easy to come up with. I realized your first message was; I will die tonight. At first I thought you were referring to the snipers and hadn't wanted to waste time figuring out the second part of the note, hoping to stop you at your heist and help you get to safety somehow, someway.

"But you weren't exactly cooperative on that part and wouldn't explain during the heist, so I decided to go home and figure out the other part of the note. I still hadn't really deciphered it when I went out of the house though," at this point he scratched the back of his head slightly sheepishly.

"I figured out part of your address and decided to try to figure out the rest when I was actually there, the fourth district as you said in your note. When I was running through the street I suddenly saw something that caught my attention."

_Panting hard Shinichi ran down the streets not even caring about traffic or other people. His mind was focusing on only one thing. He ran through the thousands of possible solution to the last two sentences of the heist note. The 1412 had to stand for some kind of house number, but there were at least a thousand of those in Ekoda. Which one was the right one? _

_All of a sudden a light caught his attention from the corner of his eyes. To anyone else it would've looked as if someone had just turned on the light inside the room, but Shinichi noticed that the light was slightly flickering. It was flickering in such a way that only one light did. _

_Fire._

_There was fire inside that room! Stopping dead in his tracks, Shinichi felt conflict strike his mind. What if anyone was inside? He should save that person as soon as possible! He should warn the inhabitants of the house or see if there was anything he could do to help!_

_But what would happen to KID? _

_Saving people from a fire would cost time and he couldn't lose any more than he already had. Calling the fire department wouldn't hurt the least. Having made that decision, Shinichi grabbed his phone and called 119, explaining the situation and giving the address of the house._

_After that, the decision still had to be made. Continue and maybe safe KID or stay and safe any person still inside? Both had uncertain factors and could lead to a dead body in the morning. Gritting his teeth Shinichi weighed down the pros and cons of each decision, but there was no decisive answer. _

_He looked at the address of the house and the name plate, hopping to see how many people lived there. The house number was 53 and there was only a single name on the plate, Kuroba. All of a sudden things clicked._

_Looking at the context of the heist note given, you would get the house number. 1412 had to be separated into two, meaning you should part it in the middle giving you 14 and 12, now there were a lot things you could do with those numbers, add them, subtract them from each other, but you could also add the separated numbers with themselves._

_14 would then become (1+4=)5 and 12 would become (1+2=)3, house number 53. You couldn't be exactly certain about this deduction though, which is why the last line was added. 'Where black taints the white feathers'. This means a black wing, or in other words, Kuroba, the family name of the owner of the house!_

_Decision finally made, Shinichi jumped over the fence surrounding the Kuroba-property. _

Kaito was stunned after this explanation. He let his head drop inside his hands and laughed mirthlessly, shock and amusement battling for dominance. So, in all actuality, it had been both. It had been both luck that Shinichi had found him and him figuring out the deeper meaning of his heist note.

_How ironic._ Now what will he do? This was not what he had planned for. His fate had only had two paths that he'd been able to take, death or not. There hadn't been anything in between. No other path which it could've gone for as far as he could see.

But somehow it still went another way. So what now?

"You can continue to think about taking your own life," Shinichi began, making Kaito look up. The detective was looking at him from the corner of his eyes, an unknown fire burning inside of them, "but remember this well Kaitou KID-no, Kuroba Kaito," he said turning his head fully towards the thief, "the second you even make an attempt to do so, I will be there and I will drag your sorry ass back to living, to you friends, and your family, to everyone who will be sad if you were to disappear."

The words, though harsh to others, were sincere and a promise that he was sure the detective would keep. There was also another underlying emotion in Shinichi's words that no one else would be able to know but them.

_I will drag you back to me._

The words needn't be said, the fire of determination telling Kaito more than he needed to know.

He realized that this path, even if he hadn't seen it before, was right in front of him and it was clouded in uncertainty and his own future decisions. The end was clear, as death was the end of everyone's path. But the length towards said end, what would happen on that path was unclear and it excited him.

Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around the detective's neck. Yes, this was definitely exciting. If life had this in store for him now, what else would it offer him in the future?

He wanted to know. He needed to know. The weight that had been gathering up on his shoulders finally seemed to get less. It was as if someone was helping him carry his burden. He finally had someone he could lean on and trust with all his heart.

Finally he could drop the masquerade he'd kept up for so long. He was finally standing at the end of his final masquerade.

* * *

><p>That was it! I hope it turned out alright. If I offended anyone with the way Kaito wanted to take his own life, my apologies. I just thoughts that he'd follow his father all the way and if he were to die he'd wanted to die like his father.<p>

Also when I let Shinichi figure out the deeper meaning to the heist note I realized that I didn't put any indications as to the district Ekoda. Now I'm really starting to doubt myself whether or not I did the right thing, but seeing as addresses are different in my country, please just blame it on that ^^ I tried to do it right ^^

Thank you for reading, and don't forget to fav and review!


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